The Hopkinson Report - Wired.com's Marketing Guy Jim Hopkinson takes a fresh and funny look at marketing trends in the Wired world.

Jun 24 2011

Episode 157: 12 Questions to ask before you buy your next computer

Jim walks you through his latest computer purchase, and tells you everything you need to know before buying your next computer.

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[Disclaimer: If you despise Apple products, you may want to skip this post. But there should be something in here for everyone.]

Oh man, it’s like Christmas. I can’t contain my excitement. After weeks and weeks of deliberation and research, I just bought a new computer. And since I’m the guy that many people turn to for advice, I’m going to give you every piece of knowledge that I have.

Why should you trust me? It’s in my blood. I’m a geek. I used to buy and read something called The Computer Shopper. Do you know what that is? It’s a magazine that lived from 1979-2009 — with a peak in the 80s and 90s — that advertised computers. That’s it.

To call it a magazine is an understatement. It regularly topped 800 pages! There were probably 5 articles. It was the size of a phone book and just page after page after page of ads. Glorious ads for the latest and greatest computer parts and peripherals. This article by Jason Scott tells more.

So I urge you to listen to my advice – but then make sure you are making the right decision for you. Two reasons. In February 2009 I wrote a curious blog post about buying a netbook and was just as excited, although reading it again now, you can tell right from the title that I was caught up in the hype, not making an informed decision.

Secondly, I decided to buy a desktop. A guy at work that I trust that talks computers with me bought a powerful desktop awhile fairly recently and says he rarely uses it and now regrets it. Apple says that more than 70% of their sales are laptops. Am I living too much in the past? We’ll get to that.

On to the questions

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Jun 18 2011

Episode 156: Interview – How a local chocolate shop uses Facebook, Twitter, QR codes, and Groupon to drive business.

Jim interviews Byron Bennett, owner of a NYC chocolate shop about how a small business uses Facebook, Twitter, QR codes, Websites, and his experience with Groupon.

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It’s one thing for media companies to be on social media, but lately I’ve been fascinated with how small businesses are doing this. I met with Byron Bennett, the owner of The Chocolate Library, a small-business in Manhattan’s East Village and we discuss the challenges he faces.

Besides, he just happened to bring along some of his amazing inventory of chocolates from around the world. He tells me that 97% of people enjoy chocolate.

Count me in as one of them.

Summary of Topics covered:

BACKGROUND
- Byron’s background at a wine store before he started this business
- Why wine stores and supermarkets need a kiosk to help shoppers
- The similarities between wine and chocolate
- The effect of luxury goods during a recession
- The story behind the “library” classification in his store, and how he ended up on The New York Times.

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Jun 10 2011

Episode 155: Creative career crisis? Michelle Ward tells you what you should be when you grow up.

Jim interviews Michelle Ward, aka The When I Grow Up Coach, who explains exactly what a life coach is, and how she helps creatives going through career transitions.

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What the heck is a “Life Coach” and why would I need one? Well, this week Jim interviews certified life coach Michelle Ward, also known as The When I Grow Up Coach, to find out her journey and answer those questions.

Summary of Topics covered:

- Michelle’s lifelong passion for theater and entertainment, leading to a cameo on Saturday Night Live and (off, off) Broadway
- Her transition away from the arts and into a “grown up” job
- The intense, unmistakable moment that she knew she could not work at her full-time job another day
- Her transition and training as a certified life coach, leading to helping more than 100 creative people devise the career they think they can’t have
- How she has expanded her business from 1:1 coaching to group sessions and workshops
- The development of “Operation Creative Career Cheer,” a 50-page illustrated rhyming career change workbook
- Yes, a rhyming career change workbook. I told you she was in theater, right?

We also discuss
- How she uses social media and referrals to get clients
- Who should go to a life coach, and how they will benefit
- Macro trends of people overwhelmed at work and wanting to get out of the cubicle
- How are millennials approaching their career differently than others
- How do they measure the ROI of a lifecoach
- Examples of success stories, from Israel to Japan to Minnesota

Learn more:
When I Grow Up Coach Website | Facebook | Twitter | What is coaching?

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May 28 2011

Episode 154: Put your wallet away. Digital payments are coming.

Today I talk about one of the latest technology trends, the Square reader and digital payments.

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For my full thoughts, please listen to the podcast.

Summary of Topics covered:

My digital trend spidey senses are tingling.

People often ask, what’s the next big thing? Sometimes I don’t know.

But sometimes…
- Something intrigues me
- I see it in Wired
- I’m curious about it
- It makes sense
- Big names around it
- Then I want one

The topic of the podcast is the rapidly evolving digital payments space, basically the ability to pay for things other than with cash.

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May 19 2011

Episode 153: How to write, self-publish, and market a religious thriller that kills on Amazon (even if you work in IT).

Today I interview Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn and self-published author of the religious thriller, Pentecost.

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For the full interview — a must-listen for anyone wanting to self-publish their own book — please listen to the podcast.

Summary of Topics covered:

Joanna’s amazing journey
Joanna Penn has had quite an amazing journey from the UK and a Theology major at Oxford (hence the religious thriller), all the way to New Zealand and Australia, and now back to the UK.

As a full-time IT employee, she started her writing career with non-fiction books such as How To Enjoy Your Job and the basic ways of marketing.

She once tried to do the full-time author route and take an extended period of time off in order to write “The Great American (Australian?) Novel,” and tried signing on with traditional publishers, but it didn’t pan out.

Intrigued with the rise of digital publishing, print-on-demand, and using social media as a marketing platform, she started a blog and podcast called The Creative Penn. Joanna immersed herself in everything going on in the industry, and became a trusted source for information, while also interviewing dozens of authors.

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May 12 2011

Episode 152: Finding your Superhero origins – Michael Margolis explains how to craft a better “About Me” page

Today I interview Michael Margolis, and he tells us how to tap into your superhero origins to create the most important page on your website – your About Me page.

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Podcast Transcript: 5/10/2011

Hi, this is Jim Hopkinson; I’m your Marketing Guy, bringing you the marketing trends that matter. Welcome!

Today I interview Michael Margolis, and he tells us how to tap into your “superhero origins” to create the most important page on your website, your “About Me” page.

Jim Hopkinson: Hey everybody, this is Jim, welcome to the podcast. Today I have a fantastic guest, Michael Margolis, who is the dean of Story University and the creator of a new program called, “The New About Me.” So, welcome, Michael.

Michael Margolis: Hey, what’s happening, Jim?

JH: So, you’re kind of out on a personal mission to help people reinvent their bio as a story. So, talk about that for a second.

MM: Yeah, you know, I think part of it for me is; I sort of think about this as personal branding minus the icky stuff. I started realizing my own journey over the last few years; I went through a lot of reinvention in my career, and I’d always been a story teller. But part of what was missing for me is I think personal branding, in many ways, it’s sort of has made a lot of us kind of feel kind of gross. Or sort of like, “Ahhh, do I have to be that obnoxious person who’s like, look at me, look at me, aren’t I cool?” Jim, I don’t know if you realize how much of a big deal I really am.

JH: [Laughter] Yeah, do you have a podcast, do you have like an icon with your photo on it, like I do? “Look at me, right?”

MM: Well, unfortunately, actually, I do like, I’ve got T-shirts and I’ve got mugs and I’ve got a manifesto and a blog, and I’ve got all sorts of stuff. But, it’s less about having the stuff and it’s more about your persona and how do you share more about who you are in a way that people can actually connect with you and relate to you.

JH: Yeah, cause it’s really hard right now, a lot of people have used social media to do this, right? It’s a great thing – you can have your own podcast, your own blog, you can have a Tumblr account and do videos, and it’s a great thing and you want to share this, but, you don’t want to be “that guy”, right?

MM: Exactly.

JH: How do you strike that balance?

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May 05 2011

Episode 151: Wired Business Conference 2011 – 6 lessons from the world’s best leaders

Jim gives his take from the Wired Business Conference

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On Tuesday May 3 I had the privilege of attending the third annual Wired Business Conference in New York City, “live tweeting” from the @WiredBiz Twitter account.

A lot went on and there were some impressive speakers with fantastic insights.

In the podcast, I look at 6 take-aways from some of the world’s best thought-leaders:

Speaker: Bill Gates
Takeaway: Money+Brains = a good thing

I came away very impressed with Mr. Gates. He said that the amount of IQ being spent thinking about energy now vs 20 years ago is night and day. I’m glad that he is one of the brains thinking about this.

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Apr 27 2011

Episode 150: High tech and new media in the auto industry – real advancement or just lots of bling?

Jim gives his observations from the NY Auto Show. Is the industry advancing, or is it all just marketing bling?

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Episode #150! Thanks to everyone that has read the blog and listened to the podcast over the years.

It seems things have come full circle… In Episode #1 of the Hopkinson Report podcast, I compared the iPhone to a Porsche, and asked, “Has the iPhone reached ‘no substitute’ status?”

Well, the iPhone is still going strong, with Apple on track to make $100 billion dollars in 2011. It sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, an eye-popping 113 percent increase over last year, destroying Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 16.6 million units.

As for Porsche, I get to them a little later.

When I talk about marketing cars, I think the interesting thing is that companies have to market them all the time. A user might buy a car only once every 3, 5, or even 10 years, so car companies have to be building this brand and trust constantly.

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Apr 21 2011

Episode 149: Interview – Alexis Ohanian talks Reddit, Kiva, Breadpig, and new travel site Hipmunk

Alexis Ohanian cute mascots

Jim interviews uber entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian

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Three years. It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this podcast for that long, but on April 16 2008, The Hopkinson Report was born.

Just 2 weeks later on April 30, I recorded my very first podcast interview ever, speaking with Alexis Ohanian about their up-and-coming site reddit.com. It’s interesting to go back to Episode #3 (and 4) and hear where reddit was at the time, and also just how new and nervous I was with the whole process.

So, it was with great pleasure that I got to sit down with Alexis this week for Episode #149 and compare notes, as we’ve both come a long way.

Reflecting back on reddit years later, I asked:

How have things changed since you started reddit?
What would have you done differently?
How did they just pull off 1 billion page views with just 6 employees?
What was reddit’s theory on development and iteration?
What was the key takeaway as a founder of reddit?

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Apr 14 2011

Episode 148: Interview – Ross McLean of Ad Agency Draftfcb

Ross McLean Draftfcb

Jim interviews Ross McLean, Executive VP / Group Planning Director at ad agency Draftfcb

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Recorded at SXSW Interactive in March, I sat down with Ross McLean, who is the Executive VP / Group Planning Director at ad agency Draftfcb in Chicago to talk all things digital marketing.

In the interview, we discuss:

- Thoughts on SXSW
Our impressions in year 2 (Ross) and year 3 (Jim) at SXSW.
Will it keep getting bigger?
Will it jump the shark?
Where is the conference going?
Will it outgrow Austin?

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